


Crash Landing

by NotMyOrthonym



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 10:08:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17506583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotMyOrthonym/pseuds/NotMyOrthonym
Summary: A messenger from another world comes to Etheria and Adora needs to leave again. But Glimmer and Catra are having a hard time with that.





	1. Look to the Western Sky

Adora took to watching the sky after the attack on Bright Moon and it was a habit she kept even after the war finally ended. The sky, she’d learned was a good way to make a quick check on the balance of Etheria, the careful thing she had been tasked to guard. The runestones did not make Etheria a subtle place: if something was wrong, it reflected in the very weather. When the planet was unhappy, it let you know. 

So Adora watched the skies, sometimes from below, sometimes asking Swift Wind to take her up into them, patrolling as high as he could stand. She would never tell anyone, but these are the patrols she likes the best, just her and Swift Wind, soaring through the sky, able to see quickly if something is wrong in the sky or on the ground. It’s not that her patrols on the ground aren’t nice, it’s just that, well, even when she doesn’t have Glimmer or Bow, she’s likely to run into other people, who always want to talk to her, and she’s got a job to do. 

There, in the sky, with only a focused Swift Wind, she feels like she can breathe. 

The war ended years ago, though at first even after it ended there was so much to do. The Horde’s last attack had all but shattered the careful balance that Etheria relied on and Adora had had her work cut out for her trying to restore it. It had been ages of trips all over Etheria, figuring out weather disturbances and poisoned earth and odd volcanic activity, and putting it all to rights. Bringing Etheria back into balance. Doing what She-Ra does. 

She’d offered to check the Fright Zone, but Scorpia and Catra had made it clear she wasn’t needed there. Wasn’t wanted there. So, she’d let it go. The Fright Zone would right itself in time. By all rights, it most likely already was doing so. The world itself seemed - calm, for the first time in Adora’s life. Stable. Balanced. 

And yet she couldn’t stop looking at the sky. As Etheria finally, _finally_ settled, Adora found her eyes turned skyward more and more often. Every night, she’d look up, something at the back of her mind bothering her, some thought that couldn’t quite form, some inexpressible feeling of _wrongness._ Something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite figure out what. 

But she was sure that something was wrong.

 

Adora steps away from the reception that Queen Angella is hosting, celebrating some holiday that’s local only to Bright Moon, and finds herself walking towards the Moonstone. Each kingdom has their own holiday, probably related to the day they were given their runestones, if Adora thinks about it, but she doesn’t, because it just means that there’s a lot more parties after the war. During it, there wasn’t exactly time for all the princesses to visit one another all the time, but now it’s just social event after social event. 

Which Adora is mostly fine with. Seeing everyone happy feels right, feels good, feels _calm._ But sometimes she wonders if this will be the rest of her life, wandering from kingdom to kingdom for party after party, constantly checking if the balance has held. She almost misses the excitement of war. 

Adora climbs the many stairs to the Moonstone’s platform, her skirt pulled up and draped over one arm to keep it out of the way, her eyes on the sky. She remembers promising Angella and Glimmer that she would stay for the whole time, but she’ll only be gone a little bit. The Moonstone is the best place in Bright Moon to see the sky.

She lets her skirt drop and feels the fabric fall back around her ankles as she reaches the top of the stairs, her eyes still locked upwards. She leans against one of the half-walls, gazing up at the sky between the cliffs. One of the moons is framed almost perfectly between them and Adora sighs, tension easing out of her slightly. She’d needed this.

Why had she needed this? Why did she need this every night? Etheria was finally in balance, and yet Adora felt tenser in this past year than she had in any since her first as She-Ra. It snuck up on her, slowly, edging into her over many months. It was like she was holding her breath as everyone else finally started to breathe free. And there was no way to explain it to anyone in any way that didn’t make her sound completely nuts or paranoid. All she had was this vague feeling that something was wrong.

The sky was wrong. Adora tilts her head and squints slightly, trying to figure out what it was. Something was wrong. The sky was wrong, somehow. It was different somehow, tonight. It was wrong. What was wrong? 

It takes her longer than expected to spot the small red ball of light that wasn’t there before. That had never been there before. She watches it, frozen to the spot, mouth falling open slightly, as it gets bigger and bigger. No, not bigger, closer. It gets closer. 

Adora watches the thing streak across Etheria’s empty skies, tracking its trajectory. It’s going to crash, she realizes. It’s going to crash into Etheria. 

But it’s not until she’s tracked it too long, too close, not until she sees it fly so close overhead, lighting up the world around her as bright as day for just a moment, before disappearing over the Whispering Woods, and it’s only once it’s out of sight that the tension in Adora snaps and all at once she’s moving. She’s rushing back towards the castle, towards the stables, when everyone starts to come spilling out of the throne room. 

“Adora!” Glimmer calls, trying to call Adora to her side, but Adora’s focused now, and she’s nearly to Swift Wind’s paddock. Seeing that fail, Glimmer teleports to Adora’s side, immediately falling into step, running beside her. “What’s going on? What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Adora reaches Swift Wind, swinging up onto his back as she pulls out the Sword of Protection, “but I’m going to find out.”  
Swift Wind doesn’t even ask where she needs to go. He flies up and away as she finishes her transformation into She-Ra. They speed over the Whispering Woods, cresting just high enough to see as the ball of fire crashes just on the edge of the Fright Zone, and somehow Adora feels the crash itself as an almost physical thing in her body. She feels the shock wave blow past her, setting her heart racing harder and something, something _thrums_ in her blood, _something_ drives her to push Swift Wind even faster, to leap from his back long before he’s even attempted to land, to crash herself just at the edge of the smouldering crater.

As the dust clears, the object becomes clearer and clearer. An oblong, rounded shape, gold and slightly glowing, a little larger than a Horde skiff. Despite the force with which it crashed to the ground, the object seems unharmed. It’s like nothing she’s ever seen before, and yet, somehow, it seems almost familiar. 

She pulls her eyes away from it for just a second when she hears a whirring noise from one side and a crashing from the other. Far off, from the direction of the Fright Zone, there’s a skiff barrelling full speed towards her. The crashing comes from the Whispering Woods, and her guess is that the princesses are headed her way as well.

She turns back to the object. The glow is fading as the heat dies away, leaving the ship a polished gold, except for a single mark at the front of it, an angular red cross that almost looks like a starburst.

As she watches, listening to her friends getting closer and closer, a piece of the smooth exterior presses outward and shifts to the side, leaving behind an empty, black opening, a doorway. She watches, mouth dry, as a pale hand emerges, gripping the edge of the opening and pulling the rest of the figure out. A tall, pale woman with long auburn hair in a high ponytail coughs as she steps into the crater, waving some of the dust and smoke away from her face. “That went well,” she mutters, turning to kick at the object slightly. “At least this thing survived.” The woman glances around, freezing when she finally spots the giant, glowing woman with a sword standing high at the edge of the crater and staring down at her. “Oh. Uh. Hey.”

Adora shifts into a defensive stance, hand on her sword, ready to strike. “Who are you?”

The woman holds her hands up, showing she has no weapons. “My name is Teela. And, uh, I come in peace?”

 

It’s a bit of a shit show when the others arrive a few moments later. Catra leaps off of the skiff, Scorpia following quickly after, and Glimmer teleports to Adora’s side as soon as Perfuma’s vines clear the Woods, and instantly there’s a thousand questions for Teela and Adora finds herself relegated to intimidation duty. Which is interesting, because the woman, Teela, seems mostly unphased by all of this.

She claims to be from another dimension, from a place called Eterina. She says she’s here representing her people, that they had found evidence of this dimension and sent her to make contact. She says she’s representing someone called Prince Adam. 

“My people are fighting a great war,” Teela explains to a skeptical Glimmer and an even more skeptical Catra. “And if we don’t find allies, Skeletor will overtake us all, and Grayskull will fall.” 

All eyes flick to Adora, to She-Ra. 

“Grayskull?” Adora can’t quite breathe right.

Teela nods. “It’s a place, where I’m from. Prince Adam rules over Eternia, but we’re also protected by the power of the Castle Grayskull and its champion.”

“Its champion?”

“He-Man.”

“He-Man?” Catra scoffs. Adora glances at her, just for a second, to find that Catra is glancing back. Or more like glaring back, as she continues, “And I thought there couldn’t be a name stupider than She-Ra.”

For once Adora doesn’t even feel the barb. She glances down at her sword, at the Sword of Protection, and then up at Glimmer, ignoring Catra entirely. Glimmer nods. “Alright,” she says, mostly to Adora, before turning to face the visitor, “I will see if Bright Moon can aid you.” 

Adora can’t help but smile at that, at how serious Glimmer sounds, and Glimmer shoots a smile back at her.

“That’s all very well and good,” Catra practically spits at Glimmer, stepping towards Teela, “but I don’t see any reason why the Horde should help. What benefit do we get?”

“Despite it being, well, besieged, Eternia has some powerful resources. There might be something we could help you with.” Teela smiles at Catra, showing far too many teeth. “Of course, you’d have to prove you have something worth trading, after all.”

Catra narrows her eyes and is about to say something when Perfuma steps in. “There’s no need for that for us, Plumeria is happy to step in to aid Grayskull.” Perfuma glances at Adora, smiling softly.

From there, each princess steps forward to offer her aid, each throwing Adora a glance or smile as they do. It’s not the most subtle thing in the world, but Teela isn’t asking, and Adora isn’t explaining. Finally, after all the rest have committed, Catra grits her teeth and agrees to help as well. 

Adora doesn’t notice the glance Catra throws her. She stares down at the blade in her hand, spinning the grip over and over, thinking of the phrase she had never managed to find out anything more about. 

_For the honor of Grayskull._

 

There’s a long argument about who Teela should stay with and who should guard the ship when it’s just decided that maybe Teela should remain at her ship until representatives are selected. The ship crashed just barely into Horde territory really, but that’s enough that diplomacy means that guarding it will be left to the Horde. Some of the princesses aren’t too happy about that, as the Horde doesn’t have the best history with not abusing new technology, but it is technically the rules of the peace treaty, Catra smugly reminds them. So they leave Teela there, at least for now, until each can go home and discuss further details with their own people.

Adora and Glimmer return to Bright Moon where a near frantic Bow and Angella greet them. Adora leaves the explaining to Glimmer, following them into the old war room and taking her chair at the table. Glimmer’s just gotten to the part where Teela wants to bring people - allies, aid - back to Grayskull, when the argument breaks out.

They’re arguing about who they should send, who would be appropriate to go, as Adora just sits there, the events of the past few hours ringing in her mind like the wrongness of the sky. Glimmer wants so desperately to volunteer, but it’s utterly out of the question. Glimmer can’t be too far separated from the Moonstone. If she went out of this dimension, there’d be no way she could recharge if she used all her magic. None of the princess connected to runestones could. There is, after all, only one portable runestone.

So, the princesses are out of the question. Angella raises the possibility of every kingdom sending a non-princess representative, but then she mentions Bow, and it’s just as the argument is about to burst into an all out fight that Adora finally finds her voice.

“I’ll go.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” The words are out of Glimmer’s mouth before she’s even really aware of them. Adora can’t leave, not when things are finally going right.

Adora just looks at her, face set and determined in a way it hasn’t been since the war. “I’m not.”

“You can’t go,” Glimmer says, a roaring wind in her ears. She barely feels it as Angella’s hand comes to rest on her shoulder.

“Glimmer is right, Adora. We can’t risk losing She-Ra. I know you may be curious -”

“Curious?” Adora stands, placing the Sword of Protection on the table. “No. I was never curious. I never had time to be curious about Grayskull, about what that meant. I just - thought it was some dumb code phrase. I didn’t - I never even thought it might be a place. But it is.” She meets Angella’s eyes, ignoring Glimmer entirely. “It’s a place. A place She-Ra is tied to.” _A place I’m tied to._ “If it falls, She-Ra’s power may fail. I just - I have to go. I’m not asking permission.”

Glimmer feels like she can’t breathe, can’t look away from Adora, can’t say anything as her mother nods. “Alright,” Angella says softly, her hand on Glimmer’s shoulder tightening. “She-Ra will lead the delegation.”

 

Glimmer can’t get away fast enough, teleporting out of the room as her mother and Adora discuss details, organizing a trip for Teela to see all the kingdoms and meet their representatives, guided by Adora. She doesn’t get far, just down the hall a bit, unable to control her powers properly in this state. She hears Bow excuse himself as Angella recommends that they keep She-Ra a secret for as long as possible and he’s at her side a moment later.

“Glimmer?” He asks, a slight tremor in his voice. Glimmer just shakes her head, not wanting to talk here, so close. He nods, taking her hand and helping her through the halls, up to the sanctuary of her room. 

Glimmer barely waits for the door to shut before she’s teleporting up to her bed to collapse there. “How could she?” she half wails, louder than she’d meant to.

“Glimmer -” Bow starts as he hops from the first hovering stair to the second.

“I know! I know, okay! It’s duty and honor and all that stuff and she’s got to do it but -” Glimmer buries her face in a pillow, tempted to scream, “- but things were finally going to be _normal._ ”

Bow nearly falls in his jump from the fourth to the fifth. “It’s Adora, Glimmer. She’s not just gonna forget about us. She’ll come back.”

“Right,” Glimmer mutters, thinking about the week before when she and Adora and Bow had had a picnic in the Whispering Woods, when they’d watched the changing trees above them and she’d fallen asleep in Adora’s arms, Bow’s head on her stomach and Adora’s heart beating in her ear. “But things were just getting _good. _”__

____

____

 

Word spreads among the princesses fairly quickly that She-Ra will be going with the strange, alien woman to the other dimension. But the news doesn’t find its way into Horde territory, so it takes Catra completely by surprise when Entrapta mentions it on their way to the welcome reception for Teela at Bright Moon.

The reception thing is meant to be the start of the fastest tour of the kingdoms ever completed, stopping at each one to pick up another member of the delegation. The Horde is the last on the list, mostly because that’s where Teela’s ship is. She and the delegation will depart from there. 

Angella had sent word of her plan to every other kingdom as soon as she and Adora (well, mostly Angella, but Adora had a few opinions) had finalized it. None of the other kingdoms had argued, which meant Catra was tempted to, but even she had to agree it was a good strategy. Send someone non-essential, someone you could stand to lose if this is a trap, but someone good enough to hold their own. Someone who might be able to make it back to you and let you know what had happened. Catra already had about ten possible candidates in mind. The Horde had a lot of non-essential personal.

But no one mentioned that She-Ra was going. That Adora was going.

That Adora was leaving.

No one had told Catra. So when Entrapta mentions it offhand, playing with her recorder on the skiff ride over to Bright Moon and talking about how her butler, her representative, was so excited to be spending time with She-Ra, Catra nearly crashes the skiff into a tree. 

“Whoa! You okay over there, Catra?” Scorpia asks, still smiling, used to Catra’s weird shifts.

“What was that?” Catra hisses.

“I said ‘You. Okay. Over -” Catra cuts off Scorpia’s raised voice.

“What did you say, Entrapta?”

“That I’m sending my butler?” Entrapta repeats, confused, fishing her recorder out from under the seat it had skittered under in the near crash. “He’s quite capable of caring for himself, and I need my cook more than him, although she’s a little more capable of understanding my experiments and what I might want brought back -”

“Why would he be spending time with She-Ra, Entrapta?” Catra ask through gritted teeth.

“Oh, because She-Ra’s leading the team.” Entrapta says, like it’s obvious. “Well, technically Adora is, because we’re not supposed to mention that Adora is She-Ra, Glimmer made sure I understood that, no mentioning She-Ra around the alien -”

Catra either stops listening or simply can’t hear Entrapta anymore over the roaring in her ears. Not She-Ra, Adora, Adora’s leaving, Adora’s going to another dimension. 

Adora’s leaving. 

Again.

 

Catra’s eyes find Adora immediately upon entering Bright Moon’s throne room. She’s dressed in light purple, pretending to be the representative for Bright Moon, acting as Teela’s guide. Catra takes a moment to spitefully note that the color isn’t right for Adora, far too soft. She looked better in red. But she still can’t look away, not now that she knows that Adora’s leaving. 

Non-essential, they’d said. Adora - She-Ra - whatever else Catra ever thought about her, she’d never describe her as _non-essential._

Scorpia covers for for Catra’s mood just by being Scorpia. Besides, everyone’s used to it by now. Despite the peace treaty, Catra’s really just not that fond of princesses. Though she can make them very fond of her, if she likes.

 _Adora’s terrible at this,_ Catra can’t help but think. She can practically smell the stress sweat from here as Glimmer steps in to answer another question Adora’s stumbling through. Adora smiles softly at Glimmer and Glimmer smiles back and Catra really needs a drink.

 

Night falls and Adora finds herself uncontrollably slipping away again, leaving Teela in Glimmer’s capable hands as she climbs the steps to the Moonstone again. The need to watch the sky hasn’t diminished since Teela arrived, if anything it’s grown. The feeling of wrongness has grown over the past few days, as if she almost understands what it is that is wrong, as if if she just looks long enough it will come to her. But it never does. And instead Adora just stares up at the sky, night after night, waiting for something. 

Alert as she is in that state of waiting, she hears the soft footsteps behind her and sighs. “Glimmer, we really shouldn’t leave Teela alone.”

“Hey Adora.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter tomorrow, if I can. This was originally going to be a one-shot. Hmu on tumblr if you want to talk She-Ra _theories._


	2. Sky Full of Stars

Adora can’t help the way her head jerks to Catra, instantly wary. Catra’s leaning against the platform that Glimmer uses to recharge, her arms crossed and her tail twitching. She’s wearing her new uniform, the one that marks her out as co-leader of the Horde. A higher collar frames her face slightly, keeping her still wild brown hair back from her face, giving her an almost vampiric vibe, especially with the way her teeth are glinting through her smile. Adora had half forgotten that Catra’s eyes practically glowed in the night, giving the Moonstone itself a run for its money. 

Adora schools her expression as quickly as she can, nodding once. “Hey Catra.” Catra blinks at her once, before coming to stand next to her, staring up at the sky with her. 

Adora bites her tongue as she tries to focus on the sky above her and not the girl next to her. She hasn’t been alone with Catra since the war ended and she can practically feel the heat radiating off of her. Neither one of them had ever approached the other. Adora had given up reaching out long before the peace talks and she hadn’t thought her efforts would be any better received after that either. So she’d stayed away, and so had Catra. Respecting boundaries. Or, not boundaries, exactly, more like - respecting tension. Something between them that had never been resolved, that had just been shoved aside. She’d felt that tension every time Catra had walked into the negotiations, every time she’d spotted her at a diplomatic event, she’d felt it as she flew high above Horde territory on Swift Wind, patrolling the skies, never looking down at her childhood home. 

She feels it now, the tension between them, the string pulled so tight it might snap. And Adora didn’t know what would happen if it did, but change had not historically gone well for them, so she’d let it be. She’d respected the tension, the line, and she had never dared disturb it. She was worried that, if it snapped, there would be nothing left behind. And that, that true nothingness, that was worse. So she let things be. 

“Planning your trip?” Catra asks. Adora turns to her, raising an eyebrow, and Catra nods towards the sky. “Picturing flying through it?”

Adora licks her lips, unsure where this is going. “No,” she admits. “Just - watching.”

Catra nods. “Protecting.” 

Catra’s building to something, Adora can recognize a trap when she sees one. She nods, carefully neutral. “Yes.”

“She-Ra, protector of Etheria” Catra’s tone is sing-song as she holds Adora’s gaze. “You bought into that so hard during the war, you know, I really thought you meant it.”

“I did mean it,” Adora responds, on the defensive.

“Oh, really?” Catra steps closer, glaring up at Adora. “Is abandoning people just a part of being She-Ra, then?”

Adora blinks. “Who am I abandoning this time?”

Catra honestly cannot believe that Adora is still this dumb. “Are you kidding me, Adora?”

Adora shakes her head, confused. “No, Catra, really, who do you think I’m abandoning?”

“ _Etheria,_ Adora,” Catra says, gesturing vaguely to the world around her. “All of this, us.”

Adora’s eyes narrow and she finds herself stepping closer, too. “This could protect Etheria, Catra. We still don’t understand the Sword’s connection to Grayskull. If that falls, there’s a chance that She-Ra does as well.”

“And She-Ra is so necessary for Etheria,” Catra snipes.

“Just because you might have preferred the state of affairs during the war, Catra, doesn’t mean everyone did,” Adora fires back and Catra freezes for a moment, heart stuttering. 

And then she growls, angry, angrier than she’s been in a long time. “So you’re leaving, again, to save us all? That’s all this is, just you doing your duty?”

“Yes!” Adora yells, unable to avoid rising to fight, the two of them inching closer and closer until they’re yelling in each other’s faces.

“Bullshit! I call bullshit, Adora! You’re just upset that Etheria doesn’t need you anymore, that you’ve played your part and _She-Ra_ is superfluous now,” Catra spits.

“That’s not true!”

“You’re leaving because you care more about being important than about the people around you!”

“No! I’m leaving because I have to! Just like before, I just -” And Adora tears her eyes away from Catra’s, turning desperately to the sky, checking again, feeling that inevitable sense of offness, of _wrongness_ , “- I have to.” She’s quieter now the force of the sky pulling her away from Catra’s angry heat. “I need to go.”

“Right,” Catra says, anger somehow colder and greater at the same time as Adora pulls away. “Gotta make the world safe for everyone. Have to be our great protector.”

There’s something in Catra’s voice, something in the way she says _our_ , that catches and holds Adora. There’s something that clicks, as she searches the sky almost compulsively and tries to resist crying from anger or pain and she’s not sure which. The words, spurred by that thing in Catra’s voice and her inability to look back at her, fall out before she’s even understood them. “It’s not about you. It was never about you.”

Catra feels like she’s been shot. “Right. Right. _Fuck you, Adora._ ”

Adora catches Catra’s arm as she turns to leave, pulling her back with more force than she should, still mustering the courage to look at her. “Catra - “

“I get it, Adora, okay? I get it.” Catra’s voice is curled into something meant to be biting fury, but Adora knows better. 

“No. You don’t.” Catra tries to yank her arm away, but Adora doesn’t let her, her grip bruisingly hard, anything to keep Catra from leaving again, and she takes a deep breath and turns her face from the sky back to see Catra’s hurt, furious face. “I wish, I wish, so much, that I could say that this was all for you. That everything I ever did was to build a better world, for you, for us to live in. Or even for Glimmer, or Bow, because you’d understand that better. I wish I could tell you that I did this for the people, that I’m doing this for the people I care about. Because you, Catra, you understand caring for people better than anyone I’ve ever known.” Adora feels one tear fall, lets herself remember what it felt like when Catra _cared._ “But I didn’t. I didn’t do it for you. I didn’t do it for Glimmer. I don’t think I even did it for Etheria.”

“Tell me you did it for yourself.” Catra is the one turned away now, but Adora can tell her eyes are clenched closed by the shaking of Catra’s fists. “Tell me you only did it for yourself, Adora, tell me that you’re a selfish, horrible person, not the noble idiot they’re all convinced you are.” Her voice is low and rough and _desperate._ The tension strung between them is pulled so tight that Adora can hear it creaking in her head.

Adora shakes her head, hard enough that her ponytail smacks her in the face, some strands of hair caught in the moisture at the corners of her eyes. “I did it because I had to.” Catra scoffs. “I don’t know how to explain it to you, I just - I had to. I had to leave back then, just like I have to leave now. The world - the universe needs me to.”

Catra wrenches her arm away, finally, Adora’s nails leaving raised red lines and even a few drops of blood behind, and Adora can feel the tension between them snapping, breaking, the string falling away. She glares back over her shoulder and Adora can see something undefinable in it, or maybe just something she doesn’t want to define, something too similar to hatred or betrayal or a thousand other things that remind her that she’s lost Catra, she lost her ages ago. “You _princesses_ and your _destinies,_ ” Catra spits as she storms off, leaving Adora alone, again. Alone with just the sky behind her, still calling, and half of a string now cut.

 

Adora’s on autopilot the rest of the evening. Thankfully, Glimmer and Bow seem to have Teela entertained, so at least she’s not ruining everything with her emotions again. She smiles when Teela talks to her, answers any questions she can, but can’t seem to do anything without someone asking her to. If no one talks to her, she stands there motionless. If no one looks at her, her face is blank. She can’t make herself do anything, just - numb. 

Eventually the night wraps up and Adora finds herself walking the halls to her room. Almost all of the kingdoms have special rooms for her now, a room just for She-Ra when she comes to visit, to help, to solve their problems, but her one in Bright Moon is the closest to home she has. And yet when she enters it, exhausted after everything, she can’t just collapse. She feels that pull, that tug from the moonlight shining in through her window, and she finds herself mindlessly repacking for her trip. She’s emptied the bag out entirely and is refolding everything smaller when she hears the quiet knock and the door opening behind her. 

Glimmer stands in the doorway, half hugging herself at the sight of Adora, lit by the moon, packing a bag. “So. You’re, uh, really leaving?”

Adora nods, going back to folding everything as small as she can. “Yeah. Yeah, I - I have to.”

“I mean, you don’t have to,” Glimmer says, stepping further into the room, awkwardly shuffling around. Adora raises one eyebrow. “I just mean, we could send other people. Your job is to protect Etheria, right? So, all you really _have_ to do is stay here. Protect us.”

Catra’s voice rings in Adora’s ears. Adora sighs, putting the shirt in her hands down, stepping towards the window, towards the sky. “Light Hope … she said something to me.”

“She said a lot of things to you, Adora, including that you should abandon your friends, which is ridiculous, because us being friends is what stopped the war! So clearly she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” Glimmer comes to stand next to her, taking Adora’s hand and making her sit in the window seat, but Adora doesn’t even glance at her.

“Despondos.”

“What’s that?”

Adora gestures to the sky. “It’s - where we are. The empty dimension of Despondos.”

“Did Light Hope tell you that?” Glimmer can’t help but sound a little sulky, clutching at Adora’s hand.

“She said that Mara did it.” It’s been so long since Adora told anyone any of this, since it had last mattered at all. “The last She-Ra before me, Light Hope said that Mara lost herself to emotion and stranded Etheria here, in Despondos. She said it nearly killed Etheria, nearly ended the line of She-Ra.”

Glimmer scoffs. “Well, that’s obviously not true.”

Only now, does Adora turn to look at Glimmer and Glimmer can’t quite breathe at the look in her eyes. Adora squeezes Glimmer’s hand, but her face is hard as stone.“It took a thousand years for me, Glimmer.”

“No, I mean,” Glimmer scrambles to explain, “Etheria isn’t dead. Or half dead, or near dead, or any of that. Look at us, we’re doing better than ever!”

“Would anyone remember, if we weren’t?”

“What?”

Adora gestures vaguely around them. “Anyone here, can any of them remember that long ago? Not even your mother remembers anything before we were here.”

“You talked to my mother about this?” _You talk to my mother before me?_ , Glimmer doesn’t say.

“During the war. Shadow Weaver - “

Glimmer cuts Adora off again, more frustrated than before. “What, did she talk to you about Despondos too?”

“No. But - she found me, Glimmer.” Adora holds Glimmers gaze, trying desperately to make her understand. “She took me in. We still don’t know where I came from.”

“Adora,” Glimmer says, softening, unable to keep from resting her other hand on Adora’s shoulder, trying to be comforting, “we know. We’ve never talked about it but - the Horde clearly killed your parents, Adora. Shadow Weaver stole you.”

Adora’s voice is quiet, intense, and utterly sincere as she asks, “What if she didn’t?”

“How else are orphans made, Adora?”

“What if - I was sent here?”

“Sent here?” Glimmer makes a face. “Sent here from where?”

“I - When I first touched the sword, when Light Hope first spoke to me, I - I saw things. Images, things I didn’t understand, some things that were never explained, but I saw them. And one of them - something on fire, streaking down, crash landing here. Here, on Etheria. I think …” Adora is pulled back to the sky, to the _wrongness._

Glimmer wants to pull her away from the window, wants to pull her into a pile of pillows and blankets and just hold her, but Adora doesn’t seem willing to be distracted. “You think it was a prophecy? Of Teela? Is all this another part of the legend of She-Ra?”

“No, Glimmer. I think - it was me.”

“You? What do you mean you?”

“The line of She-Ra ended, Glimmer.” The hardness is back, the determination, a look that makes Adora look so much like She-Ra it hurts. “It ended when Mara trapped Etheria here, in Despondos, alone. Something about that separation ended it. And then, what it miraculously starts up again, out of nowhere? The sword just suddenly chooses some random Horde soldier?”

“No!” Glimmer’s hand on Adora’s shoulder shifts to her cheek, trying to get Adora to turn her head, to look at her, to stop looking at the sky. “Adora, no, it chose _you._ Not random, not just some Horde soldier, it needed _you,_ specifically, because you’re - you’re amazing, Adora. You’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met.”

But Adora cannot be swayed. “Shadow Weaver treated me like I was special from the day that she got me, Glimmer. What if she had a reason?”

“So you think, what, that you’re an alien now? That you came here as a baby to save us?” Glimmer feels desperation bubbling in her somewhere, the need to make Adora stay, to make Adora at least _look_ at her.

“I was sent here, Glimmer. When Etheria needed me most. But Etheria - Etheria doesn’t need me anymore.”

“Of course it does! We - I -” Glimmer stammers, trying to find the words she needs to say, not the ones she wants to say, “- Etheria will always need She-Ra.”

Adora shakes her head again, the motion knocking Glimmer’s hand away. Her whole body is practically turned the window now, like she plans to leap out any second. “Etheria needs the line of She-Ra to continue. If I came from beyond Despondos - “ 

“Adora!” Glimmer can’t help it anymore, can’t help the tears or the fear. “Listen to yourself! Do you really want to leave that badly?”

Adora finally, _finally_ looks back at Glimmer, shock written all over her face. “Glimmer - what?”

Glimmer’s almost shaking, holding herself back. “You’re just making up reasons to just leave. Leave all of us behind because, what, you suddenly don’t belong here? After everything we did together, really Adora? You don’t belong here? You’re one of my best friends in the world, you’re - I - and you just want to leave me behind?”

“Glimmer, that’s not what I meant.”

“Well what did you mean?” Glimmer half glares through the tears she’s desperately trying to wipe away.

“I …” Adora looks down at Glimmer’s hand, still in hers, squeezing softly and thinking of the bursts of light Glimmer can make, with the aid of the Moonstone. She needs her to understand. “What’s it like, for you? When you - recharge? When you reconnect to your runestone?”

“What? How does that matter right now?”

“Because - I don’t recharge, Glimmer, I only have powers when I transform. When I’m She-Ra. But that’s - it’s not the only time I feel like her, anymore, you know?” Adora runs her thumb over Glimmer’s knuckles, noting how much softer Glimmer’s hands are than hers. “I - hear her, in my head sometimes. It’s not quite me, but it’s not not me, either. It’s just - better eyes, more power, that magic in the runestone telling me things that She-Ra needs to know. Telling me things that She-Ra needs to do.”

And Glimmer doesn’t want to understand, she doesn’t, she wants to be sad and she wants to demand that Adora stay, that Adora be just Adora. But she can’t. Because she does understand exactly what Adora’s saying. “When I recharge, I,” Glimmer struggles for a moment to find the words, “I feel great. Full of energy, Like I could do anything. Like I want to do anything, to protect Bright Moon, to make it safer, happier, _better_.” Glimmer wipes away her useless tears. “But I don’t know if it’s me wanting that or …”

“Or the Moonstone,” Adora finishes for her. 

“Right.”

Adora smiles at her, softly, calloused thumb still running across the smooth back of Glimmer’s hand. “I have to go, Glimmer. It’s just something I have to do.”

It breaks Glimmer’s heart to nod, to agree, but she does. Adora has to go. Glimmer has to say goodbye. After all, no one understands destiny better than a princess.

 

Catra stays the whole night, even though she wants to leave almost immediately. She skulks in corners, watching Adora, and every time she tries to leave, she wonders how many more times she’ll ever see her and she finds herself staying longer. 

But the night is over, and Adora is leaving to take Teela on the tour in the morning, and Catra has to get back to the Horde anyway. Still, she finds herself lingering, so it’s hard to blame anyone other than herself when Bow corners her for a ‘friendly conversation.’

He finds her wandering around the patios just outside the throne room, trying and failing to walk down the steps and away, away from Adora, for possibly the next to last time, and he only has to look at her to know what’s going on. So he walks up behind her, opening with a friendly “You okay over there?”

It reminds Catra of Scorpia so much she almost hisses. “I’m fine.”

Bow nods, clearly not believing her, “Because, you know, if you don’t get going soon, you won’t get back to the Horde until the middle of the night.”

Catra glares at him. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m no cadet, I don’t exactly have a bedtime.”

“No? I do.” Catra looks at him and he just shrugs. “Adora likes to get up early to train, and it’s nice do that together.” 

Catra’s heart constricts stupidly, thinking of where Adora learned those routines. “Adora always was a - goody-two-shoes.” 

She’s trying to sound derisive, but Bow doesn’t fall for it. “I’m gonna miss her, too, you know. I get it.” 

“No you don’t. And why would I miss her?” Catra fires back, putting as much bile as she can in, waiting to see him flinch back. But Bow just laughs, clapping a hand on her shoulder while she’s too surprised to move.

“I’ve been friends with Glimmer since - forever, really, and people seem to forget that I’m not one of them, but I’m not.” Bow smiles, sympathetic and soft and like nothing Catra is used to.

Catra angles away from his touch, jumping on the railing so she’s a little more out of reach. “You’re as Bright Moon as the rest of them.”

Bow laughs again, softer this time. “Yeah, maybe, but I’m not a princess either, you know.” 

“Oh. Right.” 

“When she was a kid, Glimmer, she’d use up her powers _a lot.”_ Bow seems to be always smiling and it weirds Catra out. “And then her mom would have to carry her up to the Moonstone. And, at least at first, she was always - different, when she came back.”

“Different?” Catra asks, her curiosity carrying her closer.

“More serious. More determined. She looked more like her mom.” Bow braces himself against the railing, looking up at the famous - infamous - Moonstone, high above them now. “Like a five year old with a job.”

“You can remember being five?” It’s not the question she meant to ask, but it’s the probably the safest thing she could have blurted out. 

“Yeah. I remember this one time, the first time she ever teleported two people, we were like six, and she was so tired, she looked almost dead. When she got taken away,” Bow’s voice catches for a moment, “I was sure she wouldn’t come back. I was convinced the Moonstone would eat her.”

“Eat her?”

Bow nods. “Eat her.” Catra snorts. “What? That’s a completely reasonable fear, for a six year old.”

“For Bright Moon, I guess.” Catra rolls her eyes. “In the Horde, we knew better than to fear inanimate stuff.”

“In the Horde, you didn’t have First One’s tech that looked inanimate until it wasn’t.” Bow has the audacity to poke her forehead and Catra contemplates killing him. “The point is, every time she came back, she’d be all - Princessy.”

“She’s _always_ Princessy.”

“No, she’s always softer than you.” There’s the tiniest hint of a reprimand in his voice. “She’d come back more - noble. More serious, more focused, more determined. Less - her.” He’s staring at her, like he’s waiting for her to get something, but what he doesn’t understand is that Adora’s the oblivious one, not Catra.

Catra nods. “The sword ate Adora.” _The sword’s eating Adora. The sword’s taking her away again._

Bow sighs. “They only eat them sometimes. Sort of. They come back to themselves, eventually.”

“And what do you do?”

“What?”

“What do you do while they’re - eaten?”

Bow shrugs. “I learned to go with. But sometimes you just wait for them to come back.”

Catra frowns. “I hate waiting.” But did she hate going with not-Adora more?

Bow pats her on the back, again, despite how she tenses up. “Me too.” 

Catra thinks for a moment, before making a decision. She glares at Bow, hissing, “Tell anyone we had this conversation and I’ll gut you.”

Bow just laughs. “Rude, frankly.” Then he pats her on the back one final time before walking off, not the least bit threatened, which Catra hates, but she’s got places to be, so she’ll follow that up later.

 

The tour of Etheria is relatively uneventful. There’s no more grand parties planned, just quick stop bys at each kingdom, picking up a representative and moving onto the next one. Glimmer stays behind in Bright Moon with Bow and Adora memorizes the look of the two of them, waving off her and Teela as they head to Salineas to pick up Sea Hawk. She’ll see them again in Horde territory, as she and the entire delegation depart, but she wants to keep the image of them at Bright Moon. She wants to remember what the place means to her. 

They don’t talk much, her and Teela, and neither seems particularly bothered by that. Adora steers and Teela observes, taking in everything they pass. And sometimes Adora catches Teela looking at her with a distant expression, lost in thought. Adora doesn’t ask. She’s not completely sure she’d want the answer.

It’s Sea Hawk, a few days later, as they’re on the way from Dryl to Snows, who gets Teela talking about Prince Adam. He asks for stories, after sharing so many of his own, and Teela smiles, half wild, half fond, as she starts telling them of the man they’re trying to help. And even Adora can’t help but notice how Teela glances at her while telling these stories. How her eyes linger on Adora’s hair, her eyes, her shoulders with that far-off look again, and Adora has to wonder what she’s seeing. Who she’s seeing. 

Adora’s suddenly very nervous about the idea of meeting Prince Adam. 

 

The Horde is the final stop on the tour, the place where there will be one final, very short, goodbye reception, before the delegation leaves. Before they all load into Teela’s ship and head to a place none of them had ever even dreamed of. 

Well. Most of them have never dreamed of.

Scorpia picks the delegation up from the edge of the Whispering Woods in a larger Horde ship, taking them back to the Fright Zone. Catra wouldn’t admit it, but she spends the afternoon at the top of the highest tower, watching the ground, waiting for the moment they arrive. Waiting for Adora to arrive. 

Even when she does spot the group, it takes her a moment to pick out Adora, still dressed in Bright Moon blue and purple, still pretending to just be another representative. And it still looks just as wrong. 

Catra had tried not to think in the intervening days since her fight with Adora, had tried to focus on anything other than the giant question hanging overhead. But, inevitably, she had returned back to it, in any spare moment. 

Stay or follow? Wait or go? Sit here, hoping she’ll return, hoping she’ll come back, hoping endlessly and uselessly, or trail around after her like the lovesick idiot with the arrows?

Or neither. Or give up entirely. Mean nothing to Adora and have Adora mean nothing to her. No waiting, no following, no _hoping_ , let it end, let it be, like she thought it had. She thought the sting of Adora’s choices was gone, but here she is, with Adora twittering around her head again. She was supposed to be better than this.

She hates waiting, but leaving here means giving up everything she’s worked for. Giving up her power just to be Adora’s sidekick again. She can’t help but sneer just at the thought. 

But, as she sees Adora speeding towards her, dressed in the wrong colors, the mark of that princess all over her, Catra doesn’t think she can just let go. 

So clearly the only option was to stop Adora from leaving.

 

It’s only an hour-long reception, in one of the old training rooms that had be repurposed as an event space, for lack of a better word. The princesses are waiting for them there, the same people as a few days ago, but that’s how these things go. The same old faces, over and over again. 

Adora spots Glimmer and Bow and starts to head over to say goodbye when an arm hooks around her neck and she’s pulled into a small alcove, back slammed up against the wall and Catra practically pressed up against her front. 

Adora blinks at her past friend. “Hey Catra.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter should be up sometime tomorrow. Feeling inspired, might do either a Catadora Anastasia AU or a Catadora superhero RomeoXJuliet AU next.


	3. Crash into You

“Don’t go.” It’s not a question, not a request, not even a plea. It’s a demand. 

“I have to.” Adora doesn’t like saying it, but it’s the truth. 

“You never came back.” Catra sniffs.

“What?”

“The war’s been over for ages, Adora. But you never came back. You stayed, in Bright Moon, with _Glimmer,”_ Catra spits the name like it’s personally offended her, which, Adora supposes, might be fair, “and you never even came back to _visit._ What,” Catra sniffs again, swallowing something down, not looking at Adora “what if you never come back again?”

Adora feels like she’s been kicked in the stomach. All the wind, all the air is knocked out of her, and she can’t stop herself from saying, “You’ll come find me.”

Catra’s eyes fly to Adora’s and they look at each other, really look at each other, for the first time in - in longer than Adora can remember, because even best friends don’t really closely examine each other like this and after that everything was always buried in layers of duty and betrayal and shame. “What?”

“You’ll come find me,” Adora breathes out again, matter of fact, just telling the truth. “You always did.”

There’s a moment, there, between the two of them, where Adora watches a thousand thoughts flit across Catra’s face. There’s a version of this moment where Catra follows her instincts, where she doesn’t think twice, where she throws punch after punch at Adora who blocks each in turn, an unstoppable force and an immovable object, until she launches her face at Adora, who lets that through. There’s a version of this moment where this is where Catra kisses her, where Catra lets impulse control her, and maybe Adora thinks twice about getting on the ship. 

But that is not this moment, and Catra has not let impulse guide her with Adora for a long time now, so instead she licks her lips and steps away and Adora feels unspeakably bereft instead. “Okay.”

“What?” Adora’s voice is somewhere between breathy and disappointed. 

“Okay.” Catra’s face is all sharp angles and fierce determination. “If you don’t come back, Adora, I’ll find you. And I won’t be happy.”

“You rarely are,” Adora answers back without thinking, earning her another glare. “And you always do.”

Catra’s not quite smiling, too grim and determined for that, but it’s close. “I’ll find you.”

And Adora just nods, once, as sharp and set as Catra, and watches Catra walk away, again, back into the crowd. And she smiles to herself, feeling the tension between them tug again, and she’s ready. She’s ready now. 

Adora steps out of the small alcove and almost immediately bumps into Bow and Glimmer. “You alright there, Adora?” Bow asks, glancing at Catra’s retreating form. 

“Fine,” Adora mutters, her voice a little hoarse. “Just fine.”

Glimmer peers at her suspiciously. “What did she say to you?”

“She just,” Adora glances back at Catra, who is very purposefully not looking at her, instead showing Teela some of the old Horde training equipment, “she told me not to go.”

“... Oh.” Glimmer’s heart sinks at the look on Adora’s face. “Are you - staying?”

Adora shakes her head, still smiling softly. “No. No, I still have to leave.” 

“She shouldn’t’ve asked you to stay.” Glimmer glares at Catra across the room.

“No,” Adora agrees, “she probably shouldn’t’ve.”

“But she did?” Bow’s smiling too, watching Adora’s face.

“Yeah. Yeah, she did.”

 

Everyone watches from their various transports as the delegation walks to the crater Teela’s ship still sits in. Adora glances around as she goes, unable to keep from smiling still. This feels good. This feels _right_. She’s going to the sky. 

She looks to Bow and Glimmer, seated on Swift Wind, looking small and scared. She gives a little wave and Glimmer looks like she might cry, but they both wave back. She tries to give a subtle thumbs up, but judging from the snort she hears from Frosta, it’s not that subtle. Personally, she doesn’t feel like it should be such a big deal, given the scene that Sea Hawk made leaving Mermista behind. And Glimmer smiles at her and that makes it worth it. 

As she stands on the edge of the crater, as Teela opens the door by pressing her hand against the ship and muttering some kind of codeword or spell, Adora looks back, directly behind her, towards Horde territory. Towards the skiff that Catra and Scorpia stand on, the new leaders of the Horde. 

Catra stares back at her, imposing and impossible, almost silhouetted with the sun setting behind her. Adora’s mouth goes dry for a moment and she doesn’t know what she wants to remember more: how Catra looks right now or how she’d felt so close to her after all this time. But she memorizes this sight, memorizes how Catra looks as Horde Leader, refusing to wave goodbye. She watches Catra clench and unclench her fists, watches her tail thrash, her ears flicked back, and Adora just nods at her. And Catra nods back, once, sharp and angry and threatening and Adora’s heart swells at the feeling of the tension tugging again. Adora feels the weight of the Sword on her back, pushing her towards the ship, and she feels the tension between her and Catra, pulling her back. She feels herself, strung between them, and it’s easier to follow either now. The Sword is lighter than it’s ever been as she slides down the side of the crater and steps into the ship. She finds her seat next to Teela, watching everything she does, every button she pushes, until they’re rising, rising, flying, flying into the sky.

And Adora doesn’t look back.

 

Catra isn’t just hoping endlessly and she’s not following after, either. Adora will come back, even if Catra has to drag her back by her hair. She’s still pissed as she watches Adora leave, she still wants to destroy the ship, trap Adora here, keep her close, but she honestly doesn’t know if that would keep Adora here either. But she’s coming back, she’s coming back, no matter what. And Catra isn’t waiting. She’s just - biding her time. Until she swoops into save the hapless idiot. Until she gets to be the hero.

Still, she watches the sky long after the ship disappears. She’s not alone, most of the princesses haven’t left, all worriedly watching the sky and glancing at each other. Glancing at her and Scorpia. Catra bites down a smile. They’re afraid that the Horde will use this chance to strike again, while She-Ra is away. She won’t say it’s not an option she thought about, but the alliance is still useful. For now.

As people slowly start to depart, Scorpia offers to take the skiff the delegation had used back to the Fright Zone. Catra says she’ll catch up in a minute, just leaning against the steering mechanism, watching the sky and wondering what Adora sees in it. So, once again, it’s her fault, or she guesses Adora’s, that’s better, blame Adora, when Glimmer corners her. It’s the second time in far too short a time that someone’s done that and she really doesn’t like it. She’s supposed to be the one cornering people.

“You shouldn’t’ve asked her not to go.” Glimmer’s voice is angry and reproachful and Catra’s glad enough for the distraction cutting through the pain in her chest that she doesn’t pull any punches. 

“I didn’t ask,” Catra spits back, “and she shouldn’t’ve gone.”

Glimmer almost takes a step back from the intensity, not expecting it out of the girl she’d thought was just calmly moonwatching. “Adora said you did.”

Catra looks down at the little princess. “I didn’t ask her. I told her not to go.”

“That’s worse,” Glimmer responds, immediately. 

Catra smiles. “Good.”

“Adora’s having a hard enough time with this. She didn’t need you making her feel worse.”

“Yeah, she did,” Catra says, rolling her eyes.

“I can see why she left, if all you do is make her feel worse.” It’s meaner than Glimmer intends, perhaps, but, to be fair, Catra started it. 

Catra examines the girl glaring up at her from the ground, coming forward to crouch at the edge of the skiff, their faces just about level. “She’ll come back because of what I said. Can you say that?”

Glimmer’s heart skips again, in pain or anger she doesn’t know. “Why would she go back to someone who just makes her feel terrible?”

“Because Adora’s an idiot who never questions anything. You have to remind her of consequences, of next steps. On her own, she’ll go running after _destiny_ without a second thought, and she won’t think of why to stay or why to come back.” Catra leans in further, her glowing, mismatched eyes staring Glimmer down. “She needs to be _reminded._ And pain tends to demand attention.”

“She’ll still leave,” Glimmer says, sure and sad. “She has to. That’s what you don’t get, Catra, what you’ll never get. She’ll _always_ leave. And you don’t exactly give her something nice to come back to, what with all the _pain._ ” Glimmer sneers slightly. “Do you really think you’re a part of her destiny?”

Catra’s tail thrashes, and she laughs. “That’s the problem with you princesses. You’ve all got these forces, these destinies, and you never once think about fighting them. Well I don’t have magic. I don’t have a destiny. All I have is myself, and I’m going to claw destiny’s fucking eyes out.” 

“I’ve fought destiny before!” Glimmer feels sparks form around her hands, her powers pulling out of her control. “You know nothing about what she faced during the war! You weren’t there all the times when destiny told her to lock herself away, to give all of us up! You weren’t the one to talk her down from that, to let her know how needed she, her, Adora, was! You don’t know a damn thing about destiny, Catra!”

Catra blinks, jealousy twisting her heartbeat into something hard and loud. “Sounds like you’ve got a crush, there, Princess.”

Glimmer practically laughs out loud at that, angry, angry laughter. “Have you _met_ Adora? Of course I’ve got a crush! Besides, it’s not like you’re one to talk.”

A sly smile creeps across Catra’s face. “Too bad you don’t stand a chance with her.”

“How would you know that? You’ve barely talked to her in years.”

“Doesn’t matter. I know Adora better than anyone. I always have.” The smugness in Catra’s voice makes the sparks dance around Glimmer’s clenched fists. “And I know you’re going about it all wrong.”

“What does that mean?”

“Did you fight for her at all, princess? Or did you just let her walk away?”

“If you - love something, someone,” Glimmer swallows down tears, “you have to let them go. You have to let them go be free, and if they love you, they’ll come back to you.”

Catra snorts. “Bullshit.”

“What?”

“Bull. Shit. Maybe that’s the kind of crap you get taught in Bright Moon, where you’ve never _wanted_ for _anything_ , but it’s bullshit. And it won’t get you Adora.”

“Adora happens to like Bright Moon!” Glimmer grips the edge of the skiff, wishing she had the kind of strength that She-Ra does, wishing she could crush it under her fingers. “It’s home now, for her.”

“Bright Moon isn’t who she is,” Catra growls.

“It is now!” Glimmer’s sparks are near blinding now.

“No.” The word rings through Glimmer like nothing else. The heat of the argument is gone, suddenly, and all that is left is Catra’s cold, hard surety. “No. Adora’s still Horde. And the thing about the Horde, the thing it teaches you, is that nothing comes on its own. Letting things go isn’t noble or kind, it’s _stupid._ You want something? You claw and scratch and _fight_ to make it yours. Let it go and all you’re doing is letting someone else _steal_ it from you.” 

“Is that what you’re doing?” The words fall like tears from Glimmer’s mouth. “Stealing her from me?”

Catra laughs, bitter and cruel and triumphant. “You’ve got it wrong, _Princess._ She was never yours to begin with.” There’s a gleam in Catra’s eyes as she leans even closer, just barely perched on the skiff at all. “I’m just taking back what’s mine.”

Glimmer can’t help but take a step back from the look on Catra’s face, a look she hasn’t seen since the war. But that doesn’t mean she’s backing down. “You’ve barely spoken to her in years. You let her go, by any definition, you gave her up. What makes you think you have a chance with her?”

Catra pulls herself back to stand, now two or so feet above the little princess on the ground. “Because I told her not to go. And you? You just let her leave. Which one do you think Adora will actually pick up on?” Catra smiles, satisfied at the look on Glimmer’s face. She steps back to the steering mechanism, firing up the skiff. “See you around, princess.”

 

Weeks pass without communication from the delegation and Catra begins to worry, begins to mutter all the time about how she knew, she _knew_ it was a trap, _how_ could they be so stupid, _why_ was _Adora_ always _such_ an _idiot,_ and Scorpia goes to tell Entrapta to start working on space travel again. A month without hearing from them and Catra has a bag packed and ready to go for the moment that Entrapta’s spaceship prototypes stop just being death traps. She’s constantly travelling back and forth to her castle, reminding Entrapta that the thing doesn’t have to last long, just long enough for them to get to another ship and steal that, to the point that Entrapta keeps changing the maze so that it at least takes longer for Catra to find her way in. Entrapta’s never been so exhausted by someone else before.

It’s been nearly two months since anyone heard anything from Adora and Catra is so wound up that she swears she could just jump into space herself. Her eyes are practically glued to the sky any time she can see it, and no matter how embarrassing that might be, she can’t regret it in the end, because it means she sees practically the moment the ship enters the atmosphere. 

Catra leaps to the open window, completely disregarding the strategy meeting, eyes locked on the small ball of fire that looks like it’s heading right for her. It’s moving too quickly, she realizes, and she finds herself leaping out of the window, running down the outside of the building, catching herself on poles and railing and balconies, but getting down to the ground as fast as she can, eyes always looking up and returning to the little ship that isn’t slowing down as it hurtles towards the ground almost as fast as she does.

“Clear the area!” Catra bellows, loud and sharp and immediately obeyed. There’s no questions from any of the people who’d been just milling about down in the area that in anywhere other than the Fright Zone would be called a courtyard. Catra wishes she had something that could slow their descent, something that could make this safer, but she’s coming up empty. All she can do is make sure that at least the ship doesn’t take anyone else with it. She knows Adora wouldn’t like that. 

And Adora has to be on the ship. And if she isn’t, well, then Entrapta can take the ship to pieces and make it fly again, fly better. Then Catra can go drag the idiot back home. So, one way or another, Adora will be on that ship.

By the time the ball of fire crash lands into the middle of the not-courtyard, exploding half the things around it and destroying at least one small building, Catra’s the only one still close enough to be knocked back by the force of it. She’s sent sprawling across the ground, feeling some debris dig into her skin, tearing and burning at the same time. But she refuses to be be flat on her ass when she _finally_ sees Adora again, so she ignores the pain in her wrists and knees as she scrambles back to her feet, pushing closer to the small crater. 

She gets just to the ridge of the crater, just able to see the perfectly round spaceship for a moment, before a panel on the front opens up and two figures step out. And there, glancing around and finding her almost immediately, is Adora. Adora. Finally.

Catra hardly registers the blood on Adora’s face and body, the bruises and the mangled flesh and bone, and she certainly pays no attention to the half-dead Sea Hawk held aloft only by an arm draped over Adora’s shoulders. All she knows is that Adora is here and she’s not even in her big, stupid, princess form.

The two just stare at each other from either end of this crater for a long moment, before, “Hey Adora.”

Catra’s voice is rougher, is more emotional than she would have liked, but whatever hers is, Adora’s is ten times more so. “Hey Catra.” And she’s smiling, small and unsure, but smiling. “I’m back.”

And then Catra’s sliding down into the crater, laughing a little maniacally and launching herself at Adora, completely ignoring the injured Sea Hawk hanging off of her shoulder. Adora, to her credit, doesn’t even stumble, catching Catra almost effortlessly with her free arm and pulling her closer. And Catra breathes her in, breathes in the smell of blood and explosion and dust and _Adora._ Her claws scrabble against whatever weird armor Adora’s wearing, trying to clench and dig in and keep her from getting away again, but unable to pierce and get purchase. “You’re back.”

Adora rests her chin on Catra’s head for a moment, eyes closing. “I missed you.”

And that’s it, that’s all Catra can take before she’s pulling back and yanking Adora down, using the gap between the strange armor and her neck as a handle, not even remotely cautious about scratching Adora as she pulls her face down close enough to kiss. “You asshole.”

And Adora’s laughing now too, resting her forehead against Catra’s, feeling the metal on Catra’s head digging into her bruises. “Yeah.”

“Not going to apologize?” Catra growls.

Adora shakes her head, half nuzzling into Catra. “Nope.”

“Good,” Catra’s grip relaxes just slightly, letting the backs of her fingers rest against Adora’s skin. “I’d have to hit you if you did, and you don’t look like you can take it.”

Adora’s smile widens and she follows the giddy instinct to press a kiss to Catra’s nose, which is worth it if only for the surprised and affronted look that earns her. “Speaking of, we should get Sea Hawk some help.”

“No.” Catra would rather let him die than have Adora move an inch away from her. 

Adora’s still smiling, softer, sadder, as she pulls Catra’s hand out of her armor and Catra wants to break Adora’s arm for daring to do so, but then Adora laces their fingers together and maybe she’ll let it go this one time. “Come with me,” Adora asks, pleading slightly, and Catra finds herself nodding.

It’s awkward, getting the three of them out of the crater. Sea Hawk’s unconscious and Catra refuses to let go of Adora’s hand, so she doesn’t have the use of her hands to climb. Thankfully there’s some debris from the destroyed building that they jump to. Adora feels the strain in her legs and some wounds open up again, but they make it to the top eventually.

There’s a crowd waiting there for them, standing ten or so feet back from the crater, just watching. Even as they crest over the edge of the crater, half tripping from their odd arrangement, there’s still a long moment where the crowd just stares at them and they stare back. 

And then a cheer goes up and Adora breathes again. And then people are coming at them, surrounding them, and Catra is issuing orders for moving the ship to one of Entrapta’s labs and cleaning up the debris and Adora is handing Sea Hawk over to Scorpia to be taken to a med bay, listing the details of his injuries as she knows them, and someone says Adora should go get patched up too and as she takes a step to follow, she feels the tug on her hand. And there’s Catra, striding next to her, following Scorpia and Sea Hawk. And despite the throbbing pain in so much of her body, Adora feels lighter than she has in ages. 

 

Catra doesn’t let go of her hand until it’s absolutely necessary, which is right about when Kyle tells her that he really has to disinfect the wounds on Adora’s arms before they get any worse. She scowls and contemplates tripping him like she used to, but she doesn’t want to damage him before he fixes Adora up. Unfortunately, he’s the best medic they’ve got. 

Adora takes the chance to start to strip out of the weird armor she’d gotten in the other dimension, careful not to damage it anymore than it already was. Adora doesn’t know if Entrapta will be able to do anything with it, but she doesn’t want to find out something was useful only after it was destroyed.

Once the purple armor is off, Adora’s left in just the skin tight bright blue jumpsuit underneath. Catra can see several places where the blue is turning purple, stained by Adora’s blood, but she’s distracted by the way it seems to cling to Adora’s shoulders. Half of her brain is thinking how there’s something off about the material, how it seems too defined for normal fabrics. The other half is thinking about something else entirely. 

“You should probably get that off too. Adora,” Kyle says, writing down the various wounds he can see already. “We’ve got some clothes you can use in the back. Sorry, it’s, uh, all cadet uniforms, but -”

“That’s fine,” Adora says, smiling. “I can change over there, right?”

Kyle nods, leading her to a curtained off area and fetching her some appropriate clothes. Catra positions herself just outside the curtains, tail twitching around her feet. She closes her eyes, listening to the small grunts of pain Adora makes trying to strip off the bodysuit. The scent of blood is heavier as the wounds hit fresh air, but Catra is decidedly not concerned. Adora’s here. She’ll be fine.

Adora emerges in the old cadet’s clothing and it would be a blast from the past if Adora wasn’t so much taller and broader than she’d been all those years ago. Still, Catra feels the nostalgia twinge at her just a little. 

Catra perches on the examination table with Adora as Kyle disinfects and bandages the cuts and burns that litter Adora’s body. Adora describes the laser rifles she’d been hit with, how most of the hits had been cauterized immediately. Catra starts to tune out the discussion, focusing on what she’s going to do the moment she can get Adora alone.

Unfortunately for Catra, the first thing Adora says when they leave the med bay is, “I have to get to Bright Moon.”

“No,” is Catra’s first response.

Adora rolls her eyes. “I have to tell Queen Angella what’s happened, what I saw. She can start to get the word out to the other princesses, we’re going to need a meeting of the council.”

“Here,” Catra says, folding her arms. “We’ll have a meeting of the council here.”

“Alright,” Adora smiles, “but then you’re going to have to come with me to tell Queen Angella that.”

Catra scowls. “Fine. To Bright Moon, then.” She takes Adora’s hand again, pulling her towards the skiff bay. Adora’s smile only grows.

 

Halfway to Bright Moon, they run into Swift Wind carrying Bow and Glimmer. Adora, heedless of her injuries, leaps from the skiff practically before it’s stopped moving to tackle hug the two of them. Catra just glares. 

“You’re back!” Glimmer clings to Adora, pressing her cheek to her shoulder. 

“You’re bleeding!” Bow says, though he doesn’t let go either.

“Yeah,” Adora laughs, “I’m back, I’m bleeding, and I missed you guys.” Catra coughs from her position on the skiff. “Oh, and we have to get back to Bright Moon.” Adora pulls away, offering a hand up for each of them. Both take it, though Glimmer mumbles something about being allowed to have a moment under her breath, glaring back at Catra. Adora moves to pat Swift Wind’s nose, who steps closer to press further into her. “Want to race a skiff, buddy?”

 

Swift Wind wins the race, like Adora knew he would. She celebrates with him, Bow, and Glimmer as Catra rolls her eyes and parks the skiff. Once Catra’s at her side again, Adora’s rushing up the stairs, straight into the throne room. 

Angella is overjoyed to see her, sweeping down from her throne immediately to welcome her back. Adora smiles, confidently leading them all towards the war room to give a detailed report. 

Catra’s been in this room many times by now, but she still doesn’t like it. It’s too polished, too poised for the purpose that it serves. Besides, it always makes her feel out of place. Scorpia had always had a chair in here, but one had had to be added for Catra during peace negotiations. Still, she took a fierce satisfaction in making them make a place for her here. 

Catra takes her chair, opposite Angella’s, but Adora doesn’t sit. She braces her arms against the table, taking a moment to gather her words. “Whenever you’re ready, Adora,” Angella quietly reassures. 

Adora nods, takes a breath, and begins. “We were ambushed almost immediately once we left Despondos.”

“I knew it was a trap,” Catra says.

“No,” Adora shakes her head. “Teela was telling the truth, She didn’t know that she’d been tracked, that Skeletor was waiting for us. We tried to fight off his armies, but our ship was nearly destroyed. We barely made it out, landing on the wrong side of Eternia. And he tracked us again.” Adora’s hands curl into fists. “We tried to fight him off again, but again he overwhelmed us. We got separated from Teela. He thought we were just random fighters at first, throwing us in a prison all together.” 

“How long before you busted out as She-Ra?” Bow nudges Adora’s side.

Adora looks a little sheepish. “About five minutes. I probably should have transformed in the first fight, but we were trying to keep it a secret from Teela. I got the others out, but I couldn’t just abandon her. And Sea Hawk wouldn’t leave me, so we went further into the fortress trying to find her.” Adora’s expression grows grim. “There was a lot of really terrible stuff there. But we stumbled into him trying to interrogate her, and - he recognized me.”

“Recognized you?” Angella leans forward, tenting her fingers in front of her face. “What do you mean?”

“Not me, exactly. She-Ra. Sort of.” Adora takes the sword off her back, resting it on the table, staring down at it. “He recognized the Sword. Apparently, He-Man has one just like it. He called it the Sword of Power.”

“Why didn’t Teela tell us that?” Catra asks, staring at the sword suspiciously. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know why she didn’t tell us, except -” Adora pauses, stumbling for the words. “I think it has something to do with Prince Adam. He - I -” Adora squares her shoulders, bracing herself, “I think I might have something to do with him. After we fought our way out, she showed me a picture of him, telling me to do my best to find him. He … He looks like me.”

“Adora,” Glimmer rests her hand on Adora’s, “do you think he’s …”

Adora nods. “Yes. Or he knows something about my family.”

“What about Teela?” Catra cuts in.

Adora straightens again, refocusing. “We had to split up, to draw attention two directions. Sea Hawk and I, we couldn’t find her afterwards. We weren’t able to track down the rest of the group either. Eternia is - big. Bigger than Etheria by far. Less magical, overall, though. We couldn’t find Prince Adam, or Grayskull, and we kept running into Skeletor’s forces. Eventually, we managed to steal a ship, to head back here and regroup.” Adora looks up at Angella, part determination and part apology. “We have to go back. We have to find the people we lost, and we have to help defeat Skeletor. He’s evil, worse than Hordak.” 

Catra bites her tongue at that, but Angella just nods. “I’ll call the council,” Angella says. “We’ll figure out our next step together.”

“Call it to the Fright Zone,” Adora says.

Glimmer’s heart stutters. “What?”

“The ship we stole is there, and there’s adequate labs for Entrapta to examine it,” Adora explains. “We’ll need the most recent information possible in order for the council to mean anything.”

Angella glances distrustfully at Catra. “Is the Fright Zone capable of -”

“The Horde is more than willing to host, Queen Angella,” Catra sits up taller, meeting Angella’s gaze head on. “And you’ll find our accommodations quite adequate.”

The two of them stare at each other for a long moment, each weighing the other. “Alright,” Angella says, eventually. “The council will convene in the Fright Zone.”

Adora’s smile is blinding. “Great.”

Angella stands, looming over the table, still staring Catra down. “I will send word to the other kingdoms. We will arrive within the week.”

“We’ll be ready,” Catra says. Angella nods and sweeps from the room.

Bow sighs gustily. “Why was that so tense?”

“Because it’s Catra,” Glimmer says. “Adora, we should go get you cleaned up.” Glimmer holds out her hand, beckoning Adora, and Catra watches Adora’s reaction carefully.

“Oh. Uh. Glimmer, I - I have to go back to the Fright Zone.” A smug look flashes across Catra’s face. 

“What?”

“We don’t know when Entrapta will get there, but I should tell her everything I know as soon as possible, so that she doesn’t waste time figuring out things we already know.” Adora steps towards Glimmer, patting her shoulder apologetically. “We need to keep moving on this. I left people behind.”

Catra rises from her seat, walking towards the door. Glancing back over her shoulder, she calls, “Coming?”

Adora looks to her. “Yeah. Sorry, guys,” she says, turning back to Glimmer and Bow, “I’ll have to see you in the Fright Zone.” She gives each of them a quick hug, then grabs the sword from the table before following after Catra. 

Adora waves back at them before she disappears, completely missing the devastated look on Glimmer’s face.

 

It’s a quiet start to their journey back to the Fright Zone, speeding through the Whispering Woods on Catra’s skiff. Adora lets her steer, sitting on the other side of the mechanism, eyes scanning for any disturbances. 

“So,” Catra says, breaking the silence, “staying in the Fright Zone?”

Adora nods, still tracking every tree they pass. “Planning on it. Going to kick me out?”

“Depends on how annoying you get.”

Adora laughs and Catra’s heart stutters. “Fifty-fifty chance, then. You know, I still don’t really know where anyone other than the cadets sleep. What are the other bedrooms even like?”

Warmth creeps up Catra’s spine. “You’ll find out.”

“Okay then.” 

“Not going to ask more?”

“No.” Adora glances up at Catra. “I’m sure whatever you have in mind will be fine.” _You have no idea,_ Catra thinks. “Unless you are actually planning to stick me in with the cadets, that might be a bit much. I did finally manage to get out of the habit of sharing a room with people.”

Catra frowns. “What?”

Adora shrugs. “Can’t exactly ask people to sleep with you everywhere you go. Most of the kingdoms have their own rooms set aside for She-Ra, so I’ve learned to adapt to new places. Still, I almost prefer sleeping alone now, so sharing a room with a bunch of cadets would be just plain mean of you.”

Catra pulls the skiff up short, sending Adora falling forward with the unexpected force. Adora turns it into a roll, coming out of it into a crouch, the sword in her hand suddenly. Her eyes sweep over the clearing. “What is it? Did you see something?”

Catra hops over the steering mechanism, coming to Adora’s side of the skiff. “You’re _such_ a moron, Adora.” Her hands fist in the collar of Adora’s shirt, half pulling her up, half bending to meet her. “I can’t _believe_ you need this explained to you.” 

And then Catra kisses her. 

Adora stiffens, frozen in this half crouch, the Sword of Protection stil in her hand. She can feel Catra’s frustration growing every moment that Adora doesn’t react, but Adora doesn’t know what to do. She feels something wound tight between them, but she still hadn’t known, really, hadn’t fully realized, she’d thought, maybe, before, before she left and then when she saw Catra for the first time in _months-_

And then Catra growls, biting at Adora’s lower lip with fangs, and something in Adora snaps. . 

Her free hand winds through Catra’s hair, cradling the back of her head, coaxing Catra to straighten as Adora stands, never breaking the kiss. Her other hand moves to stash the sword on her back. She leans forward to make that easier, dipping Catra backward and licking into her mouth. Her hand in Catra’s hair tightens at the way Catra’s tongue rasps against hers. Adora grips at Catra’s hip, pulling her closer, but Catra takes that moment to pull away.

“Clear enough for you, idiot?” Catra asks, a little out of breath.

“What?” Adora asks. “No. Yes. I - what?”

Catra has never looked so smug. “You’re staying with me.”

“Okay.” 

 

Catra wastes no time getting Adora alone as soon as they’re back in the Fright Zone. “You’re not leaving again,” Catra says, slamming Adora up against the wall. “I will give you something to do here, fuck,” Adora bites at Catra’s jaw and her breath stutters, “I will start another war if that is what it takes.” Catra pulls at Adora’s hair, forcing her back to eye level. “You’re not leaving again, Adora,” she growls, and her tone brooks no argument.

Which is why it’s not an argument, just a plain fact, when Adora says, “Of course I’m leaving again.”

It takes everything Catra has not to spit in her face. “I’m not kidding, Adora. A war.”

Adora runs her hands through Catra’s hair, her gentleness almost a mockery of the fierce way Catra grips at Adora’s. “I will always leave, Catra,” Catra snarls, torn between twisting away and _changing Adora’s mind,_ but Adora just keeps talking, “and it will never be about you,” and she wants to hit her for that, wants to scratch her again, wants to dig her claws deep and never let Adora forget her, “but I will always come back. I will always come back, Catra, and that, _that,_ will always be for you.”

Adora’s eyes are big and gray and honest and not even the slightest bit remorseful or guilty. “You’ll always come back?”

“I’m back in the Fright Zone, aren’t I?” Adora smiles and Catra glares at her. “I swear, Catra, I will always come back for you.” It’s not enough and it’s everything at the same time.

“If you don’t,” Catra tugs at Adora’s hair, hard, “I’ll find you. And make you pay.”

Adora shivers slightly and smiles. “And how are you going to do that?”

Catra’s eyes flick to Adora’s lips. “Punishing you.” 

“Not very specific.” There’s a challenge in Adora’s eyes, one that Catra is more than ready to meet.

Catra kisses her again, hard, biting at her lip and breaking skin. Adora groans and the sound reverberates through Catra’s whole body. She pulls back again, breathing harshly. “Don’t move,” she orders before dropping to her knees.

Adora swallows, mouth dry at that sight. “No promises.”

“I mean it, Adora,” Catra threatens, claws digging into the too small cadet pants and shredding them, just barely scratching Adora’s skin. “Don’t move.”

Adora laughs, a little lightheaded from the feeling of this. “Really glad those weren’t actually my pants.” 

Catra leans forward, eyes still locked to Adora’s, mouth hovering just off of her. “Don’t. Move,” she repeats, her lips brushing against Adora’s skin as her hands move to Adora’s thighs to hold her open. Adora opens her mouth to say something in response, but Catra takes the moment to lick up into her, and all that comes out is a moan. Catra smiles against her, pressing the flats of her teeth against Adora’s skin as she fucks up into her with her tongue. Adora lets out a strangled noise and Catra pulls back just enough to flash her fangs at her. “Moving could be dangerous.”

“I like danger,” Adora says immediately, still half gasping for breath. 

Catra laughs, running the back of a claw over Adora’s clit. “Careful. This is a punishment, after all.”

Adora’s eyes flutter at the sensation. “Going to make me bleed some more?” Adora lifts a hand to gesture at her bloody lip. 

“Oh, Adora,” Catra tilts her head, grinding her finger harder against her clit, loving the way Adora throws her head back against the wall, “I’m going to make you _sob._ ” And she swoops back in, sucking at Adora’s clit before twisting her tongue as far up into her as she can manage. Adora’s hands scuttle against the wall, searching for some kind of purchase and finding none. Catra keeps up the brutal pace as she guides one of Adora’s hands to her hair.

Adora can barely breathe as she feels Catra’s tongue curl forward, hand spasming in her hair, and it is only the possibility that collapsing would mean pulling away that keeps her knees from giving out. Catra’s claws continue to grind against her clit as her tongue gets impossibly deeper and Adora cries out from the intensity. Her free hand finds Catra’s on her thigh, pulling it away to lock their fingers together. Catra groans into her and the vibrations drive another moan out of Adora. It is embarrassingly fast and she is impossibly close.

Which is when Catra pulls back, lips swollen and slick, and Adora almost does cry. “What - was that?”

“This is a punishment, remember?” Catra’s eyes shine. 

“Is that what that means?” Adora asks, frustrated and desperate. “Not going to let me finish until I cry?”

Catra’s smile is pure predator. “Not quite.” And she leans back in again, one finger pressing up into Adora and curling forward as she carefully bites at Adora’s clit. Adora sobs. She sees fireworks and she fights to stay standing as her orgasm hits her, harder and faster than ever before. It’s a few minutes before she can do anything but gasp and clutch at Catra’s hand. When she does, she finds Catra still on her knees, leaning back to look up at Adora with a mixture of satisfaction and hunger. “That’s what that means.” 

Adora’s laugh is wild as her hands frame Catra’s jaw, pulling her up into a kiss. She groans again when she realizes that the taste in Catra’s mouth is _her,_ knees buckling again slightly. She runs her hands down Catra’s neck, down her sides, finding a knee and hooking up around her own waist. 

Catra pulls away, panting. “Trying to take control?” 

Adora raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t realize that was how this worked.” Catra tries to look annoyed, but the flush on her face sort of ruins the effect. “I just thought,” Adora says, slipping her other hand into the waistband of Catra’s pants, “that while you were busy punishing me,” Adora’s fingers brush against Catra, teasing, “maybe I could reward you.”

“Reward?” Catra breathes.

Adora smiles, pressing ever so slightly against Catra’s swollen clit. “Reward.” 

“I,” Catra clears her throat, trying to get her voice under control, “I guess I could let you do that.”

Adora laughs again, running her fingers over Catra again, slicking them up, before slowly pressing one inside. Catra groans, Adora’s fingers thicker and more calloused than her own. _Must be the sword training,_ she thinks, as Adora grinds the heel of her hand against Catra’s clit. Adora lets Catra collapse further against her, holding her weight without issue, and reminding Catra how unfairly strong Adora is.

Adora noses Catra’s collar out of the way to get at her neck, sucking hard, flicking her tongue against Catra’s skin. Curling her finger forward, Adora gently stretches Catra as she bites at the skin, drawing a gasp from her. “Trying to leave a mark?” Catra asks, claws scrambling across Adora’s skin. 

Adora drags her teeth across the skin as she pulls back to press a smile into Catra’s neck. “That an issue?”

“Who said it was an issue?” 

“Cool,” Adora says, taking the moment to press another finger into Catra, enjoying the way she Catra shudders against her. “Because yes.” She scissors her fingers, stretching Catra further as she presses the heel of her hand against her clit again. 

Catra falls further forward, practically just held up by the hand between her legs and the one keeping Catra’s leg wrapped around Adora’s hips, both keeping her close. “More,” she groans, rolling her hips into Adora’s hand. “Faster.”

Adora swallows roughly and picks up the pace. “Like that?” she asks, voice thick. 

“More,” Catra growls, and Adora nods, groaning slightly at the noise. Catra smiles, pulling Adora’s head back up and kissing her, biting at her tongue and tasting blood again. Adora moans into Catra’s mouth, and it’s embarrassing that that, that noise, is what makes her come, but it is. 

Catra’s head falls forward onto Adora’s shoulder, completely collapsed against her. Catra’s hips stutter against Adora’s hand as Adora continues to fuck her through the aftershocks. Adora’s other hand strokes Catra’s back as she comes back to herself. 

“You’re unfair,” Catra grumbles against Adora’s shoulder. She can feel Adora smile, even if she can’t see it. Adora pulls her hand out of Catra’s pants, resting it against her hip.

“So you liked that, huh?”

“Are you trying to be smug or are you actually asking for a performance review?”

Adora pretends to think for a moment. “Both.” Catra lifts her head just long enough to glare at Adora before dropping it again. “I mean, considering my utter lack of experience, a review probably isn’t the worst idea.” 

Catra’s breathing stops as something warm blooms in her veins. “What was that?” Adora just giggles and Catra pulls back to look at her again. “ _Adora._ ”

“What?” Adora blinks innocently. “Are you into that or something?” Catra growls, using the moment of surprise to tackle Adora, pinning her to the ground. “What are you doing?” Adora asks, breathlessly. 

Catra leans down, her hair falling to frame her face, eyes glowing in the dim light. “Teaching you how to do it _properly._ ”

 

It’s much later when they finally make it to the bed, curling around each other. Adora’s chin is resting on Catra’s head as she gazes up at the sky through Catra’s window. Catra has her head tucked into Adora’s neck, warm and headed towards sleep. 

“I’ll hate you every time you leave, you know,” Catra mumbles into Adora’s skin. 

“Will you love me when I come back?” Adora smiles, trying to be charming, and Catra can’t resist the urge to poke at her with her claws, earning her a quiet shriek. 

“Idiot.” Catra closes her eyes. “I’ll love you always.”

Adora strokes Catra’s back. “Cool.”

There’s a long moment of silence between them before Catra pulls back to give Adora a flat look. “Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

Catra glares. “You’re an asshole, Adora.”

“Was there something that you wanted, Catra?” Adora’s grin is shiteating. 

Catra growls, rolling to sit on top of Adora, pinning her arms down. “Say it back.” 

“Say what back?”

“Adora!”

Adora laughs, arching up off the bed to press a kiss to Catra’s cheek, easily ignoring the weight of Catra on her arms. “I love you too, Catra.” Catra grumbles as she drapes herself over Adora, who wraps her arms around Catra and settles back against the bed. She turns her head again to look to the sky. “I figured out what was wrong, you know.”

“What was wrong with what?”

“With the sky.”

“There was something wrong with the sky?”

Adora pulls Catra closer. “In Eternia, there’s more to the sky than just moons and black. They have all these tiny pinpricks of light, millions of them. They’re called stars.” 

“So?”

“So, one day, we’ll have stars again. One day, we’ll have more than Despondos.”

Adora can feel Catra roll her eyes. “Is this another destiny thing?”

“You’ll like it,” Adora promises. “All the new worlds to see.”

“And conquer.”

“Not if I can help it.”

“You probably can’t.” Catra presses a sleepy kiss to Adora’s neck. “But maybe you can distract me for a bit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that.


End file.
